Many people lack a factual understanding of events in our region because the media report them inadequately. We blog here because our daughter Malki, murdered at the age of 15 in a restaurant massacre in Jerusalem, was a victim of jihadist hatred and barbarism. For jihadism and terrorism to end in Israel, New York, Madrid, London and everywhere else, people first need to understand the scale on which it is happening and why. This ongoing war is killing us.

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

22-Mar-16: At the BBC, they're challenged by terror in quite revealing ways

Over at the BBCwhere using the word "terror" in news reports of jihadist barbarism of the sort that plagues our lives here isstrictly controlledand mostly avoided [see "7-Aug-13: Political prisoners, political media"], it appears to have been a tumultuous day. Theirlead story this morningappeared around 9:00 am London time under the heading "Brussels Zaventem airport and metro explosions 'kill at least 13'"[archived here], and had no mention of the word "terror". We and others noticed and criticized via Twitter which normally has little effect. Today however, some two hours later and with no fanfare or explanation, the same article (with the same URL) was given a new headline:"Brussels explosions: Many dead in airport and metro terror attacks"[archived here]. Fittingly, it calls the attacksterror - as it should. [Emphasis added]

To summarize, the BBC's editors decided this morning not to call the Brussels attacks terror. Then two hours later, they flipped and decided it was terror after all.

And now (polite but insistent drum-roll, please) the BBC has flipped again. Their report has a third version. It's up now as we write this.

Their main news story on the Brussels outrages, with the same URL as the two previous versions we just mentioned above, now has no mention of terror at all. (Just in case they change their minds again, the current version, as of 5:30 pm London time today, will remain archived here.)

More than 30 people are believed to have been killed and dozens injured in attacks at Brussels international airport and a city metro station.

So in the end, terrorism has been excised from the BBC report. Same important story. Three different vantage points. And no explanation from BBC management for the changes, and no sign that they want their news consumers to even know.

For the BBC, calling something terror involves operating within narrow, self-imposed doctrinaire guide-lines. They are enshrined in a policy document called "Editorial Guidelines in Full | War, Terror and Emergencies" [current version online on a BBC website here].

And as we have noted over the years, BBC guidelines are one thing. But what BBC editors do is frequently another. We have discussed the double-standards (a polite way of naming what we really mean) numerous times, most recently here: "06-Jan-16: Perceptions and realities at the BBC". Click that link and, in addition to the analysis we share, there's a substantial list of our previous comments, all critically addressing the BBC and its terror strategy.

The chronic, systemic issues which we have highlighted for years are among the most weighty and consequential that a publicly-funded, globe-straddling organization with a mission

to ensure that the BBC gives information about, and increases understanding of, the world through accurate and impartial news, other information, and analysis of current events and ideas.

ever faces.

It has to be said, and especially on a day as fraught and painful as today, that this is how ideological journalism works, no matter how well-rounded the vowels or how pompous the self-justification.

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THIS ONGOING WAR is not part of the activity of the Malki Foundation which was founded by us, Frimet and Arnold Roth of Jerusalem, on September 9, 2001. But it is inspired by the same tragic circumstances. The Malki Foundation (also known by its Hebrew name: Keren Malki) is a memorial to the life of our daughter, Malki. She's in the photo below this paragraph. Malki was murdered at the age of 15 in a massacre in the centre of Jerusalem carried out by Hamas.

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Our daughter Malka Chana Roth

Born in Melbourne 1985. Murdered in a Hamas terrorist outrage in Jerusalem 2001

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This Ongoing War: About this blog

Many people lack a factual understanding of events in our region because the media often report them inadequately. Our daughter Malki, murdered at the age of 15 in a restaurant massacre in Jerusalem, was a victim of jihadist hatred and barbarism. For jihadism and terrorism to end in Israel, in New York, in Madrid, in London and everywhere else, people first need to understand the scale on which it is happening. This ongoing war is killing us.